Darker yet Brighter
by LintheAkuma
Summary: Ciel is ordered to investigate the murders that have been going on in London the past weeks. Furthermore, he must cope with a young earl that seeks cooperation with Ciel, the young earl isn't alone though, he brings along his butler and maid. How will all this influence Ciel's job to find the murderer?
1. Prologue

"Morning my lord, It's time to wake up"

The butler's voice said as he pulled the curtains so the light can fill the large bedroom. He walked over to his young Master and shook him lightly "My Lord, we have a long day in front of us, we can't stay behind in the schedule..." Ciel yawned and opened his eyes, getting up slowly. He stretched his back lightly and rubbed his eyes "Morning Sebastian..." he said in a tired tone. Sebastian smirked and started dressing up Ciel, in a white shirt, black shoes and pants. He took his eye patch and tied it around the Boy's eye.

After Ciel got dressed, he and Sebastian made their way in the dining room, Ciel took a sit while Sebastian left to bring the Breakfast. "Today's Breakfast is fried eggs, bacon, sausages and scones." Sebastian said and put the plate in front of Ciel. The boy looked at his Breakfast quietly, the Demon tilted his head and frowned

"Anything wrong Master?" He asked

"That is an odd dish made from you Sebastian"

"What do you mean?"

"Fried eggs, bacon and sausages?"

"Well I said that since it's going to be a busy day you should eat a differed Breakfast"

Sebastian smiled again lightly looking down at Ciel. The boy didn't answer, he simply grabbed the fork and the knife and started eating. After a few minutes Ciel looked up at Sebastian "What's in for today?" Sebastian took a letter out of his pocket "should I read you the bad news or do you want the good news?" he asked "bad news… what happened?" Ciel asked looking up at him, the Butler nodded and opened the letter "numerous murders have been going on in London in the past weeks, looks like the queen wants you to investigate" Sebastian closed the letter and put it back in his pocket, Ciel shook his head "what's the good news?" he asked

"It's some French toy company… they want to meet you, they say that they would like to cooperate with the Funtom company"

"French?"

"Their residence is in London"

"I see"

"What do you want me to tell them my lord?"

"Tell head of the company to come over, we'll discuss and then they'll leave. It won't take more than two three hours"

"As you wish my lord"

"Let's hope they don't cause much trouble"


	2. Welcome to the Manor

A carriage slowly approached the Phantomhive manor. Both Sebastian and Ciel were waiting outside for their guests, "Sebastian, is everything ready inside?" Ciel asked turning his gaze to the tall butler, Sebastian simply nodded "everything is under control my lord, the servants are all inside doing their jobs" "good, now let's hope they don't set anything on fire" Sebastian turned his gaze to the sky "It' pretty cloudy don't you think young master?" Ciel nodded "Don't worry about it, it's nothing" The carriage stopped outside the manor, the door opened and a maid got out, she was wearing a blue maid outfit with black gloves and boots, her hair was short and had a weird shade of oxblood, her eyes were Chartreuse green. A boy in Ciel's age came out, it was dressed in a long black coat and boots, he had bright violet eyes and dark eggplant purple hair. Behind following his butler dressed in a formal black suit, he had black hair and zaffre blue eyes. He held the maid's hand and the three of them walked over to Ciel and Sebastian.

"You sir must be Ciel Phantomhive. I am Jack Edouard, pleased to meet you"

Ciel blinked in surprise, he and Sebastian looked at each other before turning back to their guests "Uh… You didn't inform me that you'd bring company." Ciel said confused, Jack nodded his head "I know, my deepest apologizes" he looked behind at his servants and back at them "I hope you don't mind, they won't cause any trouble" with that Ciel huffed "they better don't" he said under his breath. Sebastian glared a bit at the maid, the color of her eyes was familiar and he noticed that she didn't realize he was looking at her, the other butler saw Sebastian and raised an eyebrow. "Pardon me for asking, is anything wrong with your maid Mr. Edouard?" Sebastian asked "She just can't see well, nothing important" Jack replied. Ciel looked up at Sebastian "This is my butler Sebastian Michaelis" he said and the demon looked down at him, he didn't trust their visitors "this is MY butler, Olivier Clair and that's our maid Clementine Fernade" Jack said after Ciel and Sebastian looked at them. Clementine waved shyly and Olivier simply shook his head "Let's head inside now shall we?" Ciel said, "of course" Jack replied and they all walked inside.

The Edouard household was left surprised by the inside of the manor, "I see you like the place" Ciel said walking towards the stairs "Oui, you've done an excellent job Ciel" Sebastian smirked. Ciel signaled Sebastian to come closer so he could whisper in his ear "I'll take Jack to the study room, you find a way to keep the servants busy" Sebastian nodded "...and make sure they don't break anything. It's an order." "As you wish my young lord" Sebastian walked over to Olivier and Clementine "While Lord Phantomhive and Lord Edouard speak what do you say I introduce you to the rest of the Phantomhive household?" Sebastian asked them "We would love to Sebastian. Clementine said and Olivier glared at her lightly. "This way please" Sebastian said and led them away from the two boys, later Ciel and Jack made their way to Ciel's study room to negotiate.

"So, Sebastian. How long have been Ciel's butler?" asked Clementine

"For about 3 years now" He replied

"That long?"

"Why are you surprised?"

"I've been with lord Edouard for almost a year now. Olivier was here before me"

Sebastian turned his gaze towards the butler, "You don't talk very much." Olivier's eyes dimmed a bit "I have nothing to say." He replied almost quietly "O-Olivier! Don't be rude!" Clementine snapped and Sebastian chuckled in a dark tone "I'm not offended ". The three kept walking until they reached the kitchen, as soon as they were a few steps away from the door a loud explosion happened and the two butlers covered their faces "BALDROY!" Sebastian yelled and the man came out of the kitchen covered in black ashes "oi, sorry Sebastian…" he said scratching the back of his head "I thought I told you no dynamite!" The butler said in anger and Baldroy backed away a bit, Sebastian face palmed and sighed "where are the others?" he asked. Mey-rin and Finny came out of the kitchen also covered in ashes "Sorry Sebastian" the two of them said with one voice "we can help you clean" Clementine said smiling lightly, the three servants looked at them "hey you must be from the Edouard household!" Finny said smiling "this is Baldroy our chef, Mey-rin our maid and Finnian our Gardener" the three of them waved happily, "I am Olivier Clair the butler and this is Clementine Fernade our maid" Olivier introduced to the three of them with pleasure, "Clementine? Lovey name!" Mey-rin said and shook Clem's hand lightly "u-um why thank you! So is yours Mey" she said chuckling "Clair your accent is a bit odd, you're not from England are you?" Baldroy asked them "no, me and master Edouard are from France, we moved to London a year ago" Olivier answered. Sebastian and Olivier looked at each other "enough talk, start cleaning up" Sebastian turned to them and spoke in a serious tone "yes Sebastian!" they said together "come on Mey!" Clementine said and the two girls run inside the room behind following Finny and Baldroy "wait Clem! Not you!" Olivier said but she didn't listen. He left out a loud sigh. "Let's just hope that all the glasses and cups are broken" he whispered "You know Clair, if you want to help you can go, the job will finish faster with some extra hands" the two butlers looked at each other "What about you Sebastian? " "I have some jobs to attend to" with that he started to walk away "Do not worry. I'll be back shortly" Sebastian paused "you too Tanaka" "hohoho"

Meanwhile, Ciel and Jack were negotiating about their companies' cooperation "Are you sure we shouldn't worry about the explosion?" Jack asked and Ciel nodded "I'm sure it's just my servants. They better be." Jack looked around the room "So, do we have a deal?" Jack asked taking the agreement papers out of his coat "just sign on this" he said and put them in front of Ciel. Ciel started ready the papers, one of the terms left him curious " _If the head master of the cooperative company passes away the Edouard Company will take full control of it and will take all of its earnings."_ Jack tapped his fingers on the desk waiting impatiently for Ciel to sign when suddenly a loud thunder heard making both boys turn towards the window, it instantly started raining. Sebastian looked out of the window, the rain was really heavy "Is anything wrong Sebastian?" Clementine asked him "I can hear that the rain is pretty heavy." Another thunder heard louder than the last one "You won't be able to go home with that rain, you might need to stay in for the night" Clementine blinked "hell… Are you sure our masters will agree?" "That or you'll most likely end up dead in the mud" Sebastian said glaring down at her, she gulped "Second thought, staying in doesn't sound that bad". Ciel and Jack got up and looked at the rain falling outside "this is really bad" Jack said a bit worried, "there is no way the carriage will be able to come" Ciel said raising an eyebrow "we can try walking home…" Jack said looking at him, Ciel turned to him also, and frowning "not a very wise move" he paused "follow me he said and walked out of the room to go find Sebastian and the others. "Ah Young lord, you're here" Sebastian said and Jack walked over to Clementine "they'll be staying here for the night in the guest room" Ciel paused and turned to Jack "I'll think about our cooperation later, no need to hurry" Sebastian nodded and walked over to Ciel, Clem tilted a bit towards Jack "he doesn't sound very happy" Jack whispered in her ear "he isn't. I had a friend who constantly spoke like that" she whispered back. She moved away from Jack "let's go master, I'll make your bed." She said and Mey-Rin led them to the guest room "I order you to keep an eye on their butler while we'll be asleep." Sebastian nodded "As you wish my young lord"


End file.
